Cyber security’s role in digital transformation - why early engagement matters
Cyber security’s role in digital transformation - why early engagement matters
Digital transformation is reshaping industries, with organisations investing heavily in cloud platforms, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and data analytics to drive growth, resilience, and agility. However, cyber security is too often treated as a downstream safeguard rather than a strategic enabler. According to a recent IDC report, sponsored by BDO, only 40 per cent of organisations integrate cyber security during the planning stage of digital initiatives. Most add security measures during execution or after implementation, significantly increasing the risk of costly and disruptive rework, project delays, and erosion of customer trust.
The gap between ambition and execution is visible in Australia, where governments and regulators are actively encouraging digital innovation across critical sectors. Yet, organisations face growing obligations under Australia’s regulatory security requirements, including the Cyber Security Act, the Security of Critical Infrastructure Act (SOCI), Privacy Act reforms, and related data protection and critical infrastructure frameworks.
Embedding cyber security early in the digital transformation journey, and ensuring success, will require:
- Aligning cyber budgets with business strategy
- Refreshing cyber programmes to stay relevant
- Building cyber maturity for resilience.
Budget optimisation: Aligning spend with strategy
IDC’s research highlights that budget is no longer the primary barrier - effectiveness of investment is. Even organisations with 'flexible' or 'readily available' budgets report an average of five incidents annually. In Australia, this finding mirrors trends across both public and private sectors, where large cyber security investments have not always translated into fewer incidents or faster recoveries. The issue isn’t always lack of funding, it’s how that funding is applied.
What matters most is alignment of spend to strategic outcomes. Effective cyber security investment supports capabilities such as:
- 24x7 threat monitoring and response
- Automation in detection and response
- Proactive vulnerability and third-party risk management
- Integration of security into DevOps and cloud transformation programs.
For example, as Australian organisations pursue cloud migration under government digital strategies, it is essential that budgets extend beyond application redesign and migration into secure coding practices, regulatory risk assessments, and cloud security posture management.
Late stage bolt-ons almost always result in higher costs and reputational risks. To maximise impact, cyber security must be treated as a strategic partner, not a reactive fix. This need for strategic alignment naturally leads to the next consideration: how often organisations pause to reassess their cyber security approach.
Strategy refresh: Staying relevant in a fast-moving landscape
IDC’s findings show that boards increasingly demand proof of risk reduction, although many organisations lack process-level metrics to demonstrate genuine maturity. Boards don’t just want compliance with frameworks, they want assurance that cyber risks are being actively reduced and that investment is delivering measurable outcomes.
To achieve this, organisations need to strengthen their understanding of risk and adopt security standards that are appropriate for their business context. Standards provide the structure to translate risks into actionable controls and measurable outcomes. Most Australian organisations do not rely on a single standard. Instead, many adopt a hybrid approach - aligning to ISO 27001 for certification, using the ACSC Essential Eight for baseline controls, and mapping to NIST CSF or sector frameworks such as AESCSF or APRA CPS 234 to meet regulator and industry obligations.
Cyber leaders must also regularly reassess their strategies to ensure they remain aligned with business priorities. Annual refreshes, outcome-based metrics, and cross-functional collaboration help teams stay relevant and effective. Reflection can also reveal legacy practices that dull progress. By shifting to agile, business-aligned approaches, cyber security teams can foster innovation and drive better outcomes. This practice strengthens collaboration between cyber and business units, breaks down silos, and builds trust.
Ongoing reassessment and alignment with regulatory change ensure cyber remains a business enabler. For example, state government agencies refreshing their digital roadmaps are increasingly embedding cyber strategy checkpoints into program stage-gates, ensuring controls remain relevant and adaptive to new risks.
Cyber maturity: The true measure of resilience
Budget size doesn't guarantee security. IDC’s survey reinforces that process maturity is the strongest predictor of resilience. Organisations that focus on 24x7 monitoring, advanced detection, and mature response processes achieve far greater resilience than those that spread budgets across point solutions. Capabilities such as Extended Detection and Response (XDR), AI-driven analytics, and predictive modelling directly reduce incident frequency and accelerate recovery, proving that process maturity is the real driver of outcomes.
As cyber threats continue to evolve, future priorities must build on this foundation. Automation, endpoint protection for hybrid workforces, and employee awareness remain essential. At the same time, organisations are expanding focus to zero trust, disaster recovery, and supply chain resilience to address geopolitical and operational risks. Emerging technologies such as Generative AI (GenAI) amplify the challenge: they offer powerful new capabilities but also fuel risks like phishing, data leakage, and governance gaps. While many organisations are beginning to train staff and deploy AI-specific security tools, only a minority have embedded risk frameworks or governance processes. This highlights a clear maturity gap that must be closed before innovation can be embraced safely.
While awareness of risks is high, consistent delivery is lacking. Organisations that find a way to bridge the gap between strategy and execution hold a competitive advantage. To progress, cyber security must evolve from reactive control to intelligence-led resilience. This means embedding governance, enabling continuous monitoring for real-time visibility, and measuring process-level KPIs such as detection times, containment speed, and patching cadence. By making these practices core to operations, organisations move beyond compliance to a state of proactive, adaptive maturity - one that withstands today’s threats and prepares them to adopt emerging technologies with confidence.
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This Cyber Awareness Month, take the next step by embedding cyber security at the heart of digital transformation, turning investments into measurable performance and long-term value.
BDO’s cyber security team works with organisations to align their investment with business priorities and implement risk-based controls that drive meaningful outcomes. Whether you are refining strategy, modernising infrastructure, or addressing emerging threats, partnering with BDO ensures you maximise value, build resilience, and demonstrate a clear return on your cyber security investment.
